The sixth stage of the 2016 Dakar Rally, battled out around the Uyauni Salt Flats, brought with it bitter news for Team HRC as Joan Barreda sees his options of an overall victory fade. However, Paulo Gonçalves still commands at the head of the general standings after a third-place finish on the day.

The Dakar Rally’s sixth stage – a looping route that started and finished in Uyuni, Bolivia – proved to be an arduous, physically challenging affair, including over 540 kilometres of timed special stage. By the time competitors made it back to the bivouac, they had sped through a total of 723 kilometres at 4000 metres altitude and faced some headache-inducing navigation. The race’s highest level at one point even reached a giddy peak of 4,600 metres (15,000 feet).

Team HRC’s steadfast Portuguese rider Paulo Gonçalves held firm through a tricky special to post third place just 1’12 adrift of the stage winner. As a result Gonçalves continues to head the leaderboard with a 35 second advantage over second place Australian Toby Price, today’s winner.

American Dakar debutant Ricky Brabec turned in a thrilling performance – his best to date – finishing in seventh on the day and jumping to fourteenth in the general rankings. French team-mate Michael Metge, was able to regain momentum and climb some places in the general after finishing the gruelling marathon stage which had displeased him so much. Today, he came home in eleventh place and moves up the table to a respectable twelfth spot.

Joan Barreda came out gunning for victory in this, the longest special stage of the Dakar 2016 at 542 kilometres. After a gutsy start climbing the field, the Spaniard was suddenly forced to halt and lost time trying to sort out a technical issue. Team-mate Paolo Ceci was soon on hand to help out and at the time of sending this press release the rider is being towed by his colleague back to base in an attempt to salvage something from the Dakar. What exactly caused the machine to stop is yet unclear.

Argentinean Kevin Benavides continues to excel with Honda South America Rally Team, who in spite of not finishing as well in today’s special as he had done recently, still manages to rub shoulders with rally’s elites near the top of the overall standings. Benavides lies 21 minutes off the race leader Paulo Gonçalves. Frenchman Adrien Metge on his maiden Dakar outing scored a 21st place and Argentinean rider Pizzolito finished 36th and moves up in the general.

A quick paddle before a rest
The end of the first week of racing is always a decisive intermediate objective. This year, anyone who has put in the ground work during their preparation and who has respected the major recommendations of the discipline will be able to reach it. However, they still need to get to the end of this exhausting day, which will involve getting their feet wet crossing rivers. It is likely that half of the vehicles will arrive in Salta after nightfall… but perhaps before their assistance teams, who also have a long road ahead of them.

Paulo Goncalves 2

STAGE: 3rdPROVISIONAL: 1st

Today really was a very long day. Really tough as we had to ride in altitude. For me it was really hard as I had a terrible headache because of the altitude. I tried to stay as focused all the time and not make any mistakes, but while trying to be quick on the bike. I’m happy to have arrived here and to be able to rest a bit and prepare for tomorrow’s stage.

Ricky Brabec 48

STAGE: 7thPROVISIONAL: 14th

Today the stage was really, really fast, a lot faster than I like to go actually. It wasn’t only fast but it was super-dusty. Starting 24th, over the first 150-200 kilometres I was in the dust just hanging out. At the first refuelling I was closer to the people in front of me. I was playing it safe all day, riding consistently. I made a mistake in the dust on a stony corner. The front wheel just washed out on me and I laid the bike over. Other than that, the stage was good… good and dangerous! So, I’m happy to be here again and we can go again tomorrow.

Michael Metge 19

STAGE: 10thOVERALL: 12th

What a long day! There were so many different types of terrain – some very fast, some less fast with sand and rocks, which is where I like to ride. I really felt great on the bike. It’s a real shame about what happened to Joan, but in a mechanical sport this type of incident can occur.

Kevin Benavides 47

STAGE: 16thPROVISIONAL: 7th

It was a difficult day for me today. 540 km of special stage is really long. It was going well and I felt comfortable but with 60 km left to go I started to have trouble with the instrument panel and had to stop to fix it. I lost a few minutes but the important thing is that we are still in the running.

Private: Wolfgang Fischer

Team HRC Team Manager

Of course today we had a big disappointment with the bike problem of Joan Barreda, with all his aspirations of winning the race gone today. But, of course, we will not give up fighting and doing everything to get a result. We are especially happy that Paulo could keep his leading position overall in this very difficult and demanding stage. Now, over the next few days we will have to stay focused to do everything in our power to give him the necessary support.

2016 Dakar RallyFriday, January 8th 2016

Stage
Round DAK16
, 6 Dakar Rally 2016Dakar

Stage 6 . Uyuni - Uyuni

Pos.

Rider

Num

Nation

Team

Constructor

Time/Gap

1

Price Toby

3

AUS

Red Bull KTM Rally Factory Team

KTM

5:51'48

2

Walkner Matthias

14

AUT

Red Bull KTM Rally Factory Team

KTM

+1'05

3

Goncalves Paulo

2

POR

Team HRC

Honda

+1'12

4

Svitko Stefan

5

SLO

Slovnaft Team

KTM

+4'44

5

Rodrigues Helder

7

POR

Yamaha Motor Europe

Yamaha

+5'23

6

Arana Txomin

27

SPA

GOR Sport

Husqvarna

+7'59

7

Brabec Ricky

48

USA

Team HRC

Honda

+8'16

8

Botturi Alessandro

18

ITA

Yamaha Motor Europe

Yamaha

+9'19

9

Viladoms Jordi

11

SPA

Red Bull KTM Rally Factory Team

KTM

+11'09

10

Metge Michael

19

FRA

Team HRC

Honda

+11'10

11

Pedrero Joan

17

SPA

Sherco TVS Rally Factory

Sherco

+11'10

12

Meo Antoine

49

FRA

Red Bull KTM Rally Factory Team

KTM

+12'25

13

Duclos Alain

20

FRA

Sherco TVS Rally Factory

Sherco

+13'42

14

Sanz Laia

12

SPA

KTM Factory Racing Team

KTM

+13'58

15

Van Beveren Adrien

42

FRA

Yamaha Motor Europe

Yamaha

+15'23

16

Benavides Kevin

47

ARG

Honda South America Rally Team

Honda

+15'30

17

Monleon Armand

45

SPA

KTM Warsaw Rally Team

KTM

+20'38

18

Cervantes Iván

52

SPA

Himoinsa Team

KTM

+20'58

19

Casteu David

9

FRA

Team Casteu

KTM

+21'19

20

Piatek Jakub

58

POL

KTM Orlen Rally Team

KTM

+21'31

21

Metge Adrien

61

FRA

Honda South America Rally Team

Honda

+22'13

36

Pizzolito Javier

22

ARG

Honda South America Rally Team

Honda

+36'58

105

Ceci Paolo

32

ITA

Team HRC

Honda

+4:14'11

106

Barreda Joan

6

SPA

Team HRC

Honda

+4:58'11

2016 Dakar RallyFriday, January 8th 2016

Stage
Round DAK16
, 6 Dakar Rally 2016Dakar

Provisional Standings after Stage 6

Pos.

Rider

Num

Nation

Team

Constructor

Time/Gap

1

Goncalves Paulo

2

POR

Team HRC

Honda

20:23'07

2

Price Toby

3

AUS

Red Bull KTM Rally Factory Team

KTM

+00'35

3

Walkner Matthias

14

AUT

Red Bull KTM Rally Factory Team

KTM

+2'50

4

Svitko Stefan

5

SLO

Slovnaft Team

KTM

+5'17

5

Quintanilla Pablo

4

CHI

Husqvarna Factory Rally Team

Husqvarna

+15'10

6

Rodrigues Helder

7

POR

Yamaha Motor Europe

Yamaha

+20'12

7

Benavides Kevin

47

ARG

Honda South America Rally Team

Honda

+21'04

8

Meo Antoine

49

FRA

Red Bull KTM Rally Factory Team

KTM

+23'02

9

Duclos Alain

20

FRA

Sherco TVS Rally Factory

Sherco

+26'09

10

Pedrero Joan

17

SPA

Sherco TVS Rally Factory

Sherco

+27'17

11

Arana Txomin

27

SPA

GOR Sport

Husqvarna

+30'49

12

Metge Michael

19

FRA

Team HRC

Honda

+33'31

13

Botturi Alessandro

18

ITA

Yamaha Motor Europe

Yamaha

+33'44

14

Brabec Ricky

48

USA

Team HRC

Honda

+33'46

15

Farres Gerard

23

SPA

Himoinsa Team

KTM

+39'27

23

Metge Adrien

61

FRA

Honda South America Rally Team

Honda

+1:02'38

32

Pizzolito Javier

22

ARG

Honda South America Rally Team

Honda

+1:25'51

70

Ceci Paolo

32

ITA

Team HRC

Honda

+4:47'23

71

Barreda Joan

6

SPA

Team HRC

Honda

+4:59'26

Gallery

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Team HRC Dakar 2016 Stage 6

The sixth stage of the 2016 Dakar Rally, battled out around the Uyauni Salt Flats, brought with it bitter news for Team HRC as Joan Barreda sees his options of an overall victory fade. However, Paulo Gonçalves still commands at the head of the general standings after a third-place finish on the day.

Team HRC Dakar Rally 2016 Stage 5

All five Team HRC bikes made it through the marathon stage which started out in the Argentine city San Salvador de Jujuy and finished in Uyuni, Bolivia. Paulo Gonçalves remains at the head of the overall standings with Barreda fourth.

Location Information

The greatest and toughest rally in the world, the Dakar’s history has been written in the heart of some of the world’s most stunning deserts and belongs to the world of the greatest sporting challenges of our time. Both a motor race and an orienteering challenge, the Dakar Rally pits… read more.

Location Information

The greatest and toughest rally in the world, the Dakar’s history has been written in the heart of some of the world’s most stunning deserts and belongs to the world of the greatest sporting challenges of our time. Both a motor race and an orienteering challenge, the Dakar Rally pits… read more.